The Loud House: Ten Years Later
by nakednigerian
Summary: Lincoln is 21 years old and is a struggling artist. He hasn't talked to Ronnie Anne in over a year and he has a lot of catching up to do with his family.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Graduation

It's been about a month since I started my webcomic and I can finally say I'm really proud of myself for getting this far. Of course I wouldn't be here without the help from my friend, Clyde, who has been my editor for multiple projects I've done. He's been my friend for more than a decade and I'm sure we'll be friends for many more.

Originally I wanted to do a comic about superheroes like Ace Savvy but I found the genre too oversaturated with all its reboots, retcons and the various crossovers which came with it. So I wanted to switch it up and that's when I decided to make my comic a "slice of life" because it's simple and easy story-wise. There aren't any alternate dimensions or time travel involved. Characters go about their daily lives and nuances. Sure, they face the occasional drama here and there but overall it's just about regular people like you and me.

But that's not important right now. What's important is making it to my sisters high school graduation. Her name is Lucy Loud and she just turned eighteen, she's smart and loves poetry. Also, she's been going through a goth phase her whole life, which has recently toned down ever so slightly. She has excelled in all her English classes and even won a few scholarships for her outstanding essays. I'm really proud of her and I hope she likes my graduation gift. I bought her some clothes that I believe will fit with her aesthetic. To be honest I'm a little nervous about this whole endeavor. I haven't really talked to anyone in my family for nearly two months but it felt like two years. I assume nothing much has changed. I do not expect anybody is mad at me for not talking to them. We used to be so close. As you get older, your family starts to drift apart. They move away or divorce or _die_ (luckily that isn't the case so far) we all live within a few hours of each other so it's not too bad.

I better make good memories of this, I want to be there for my family, like how they've been there for me.

I come to an abrupt stop to see the freeway jampacked and it's barely moving an inch. I pull out my phone and call my mom.

"Yes? Hello? Lincoln, where are you? Are you on your way?" she asked. I couldn't help but hear lots of chatter in the background. She must be in the lounge area of the auditorium.

"Mom, I'm running a little late but I should be there soon, when traffic starts moving. Is everybody there?" I ask.

"Yes your father is currently trying to find a parking space. Lori and Bobby plus their two kids are on their way. Other than them everybody else is here." She replies.

"That's good. Oh hey my lane is starting to move again. I think I see an accident on the side of the road from the looks of it." I tell her.

The scene had a firetruck, police officers and paramedics. _Whatever happened here must have been bad_ , I think to myself. "Alright mom I gotta go! I'm almost off the freeway - I'll text you when I'm in the parking lot. Oh! And say thanks to Leni for helping me pick out clothes for Lucy." I tell her.

"Alright honey I will. See you soon. Love you!"

"Love you too." I end the phone call then place my phone in the cupholder. I see my exit and take it.

Almost there.

It takes me another ten minutes to reach the parking lot, luckily Lucy's class has roughly 500 students so I'll have plenty of time to find a parking spot. That is, if I can, this place is jam packed. Christ... looks like I'll have to park at the grocery store across the street, and just my luck-it looks packed too. I do not think this auditorium has adequate parking space, the parking lot itself is three football fields long. Holy hell, some students must've brought their entire extended family to this thing.

I park at the grocery store and get out, I grab Lucy's present, lock my car, adjust my shitty tie that I bought at goodwill and start walking. The street is really busy due to the influx of cars trying to get in and out of the auditorium. There seems to be a lot of people who are guiding traffic.

It took me another ten minutes of light jogging before I finally make it inside the plaza area of the auditorium. To my surprise there are bunches of people still trying to find seating. I whip out my phone and send a text to my mom, telling her that I made it and asked where she is sitting so that I can find her. She texts back that she's on the left side, row 49, seat 28. I am forced to walk in a slow line before I'm inside the beast's belly. Inside are hundreds and hundreds of seats. Of course, this place is a concert hall where shitloads of popular bands play all the time.

I'm stopped by a woman asking me for my ticket. I give it to her and she takes a glance at it, momentarily she points me in the direction of where my row is.

Soon enough, I spot my mom, and almost everybody else. My mom waves at me before giving me a big hug.

"Oh there's my handsome boy." My mom exclaims.

"I'm twenty one years old now mom I'm not a boy anymore." I tell her. She's gotten grayer hairs, and her face is getting wrinkles, plus she's put on some weight. It's common with women her age.

"Oh I know that but you'll always be my favorite son." She says.

"I'm your only son." I say.

My little sister, Lily, rushes towards me and squeezes me really tight.

"Oh Lincoln I've missed you so much!" She yells.

"Oh I've missed you too Lily. Look how much you've grown!" I exclaim.

"Do you like my dress?" Lily asks, "Leni helped pick it out for me."

She really did have a cute dress. It seems like Leni has been the go-to for fashion advice these days.

"Yes I like it very much you look really beautiful." I tell her.

She blushes.

"Alright Lily, Let your brother catch up with the rest of your sisters." My mom tells her.

"Yes mom." She says, looking slightly disappointed.

"Hello Lincoln. How are you doing thish fine evening?" Lisa asks.

Out of all my sisters, Lisa is the only one who's the least like us. She's smart, like, really smart. She was a child prodigy at the age of four. She excelled in mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, you name it. She didn't get this from my dad, that's for sure. She might've gotten it from my mom but even my mom is nowhere near Lisa's level. I've read about how child geniuses usually fall into obscurity as they got older. How they lose their charm once they go through puberty, how everybody had such high expectations for them and how it gets harder and harder for these kids to fulfill them.

When I was younger, Lisa wasn't the easiest to get along with. She disregarded her own safety for the sake of her experiments and nobody liked being her guinea pig. But as of lately she's mellowed out. She actually has braces now. Mom told her she was trying to cure her of her lisp.

"I'm fine Lisa, it's so good to see you again. How are the braces treating you?" I ask.

"They're okay. They hurt when the orthodonisht adjushts them though." she replies.

"You'll get used to them. It took me years before they corrected my buck teeth. Remember those?" I ask her. God, those buck teeth. I got hit with one of Lynn's baseballs one summer and it chipped my tooth too, to add insult to injury.

"Heh, yeah, thoshe were the daysh." She reminisces.

"Hi Lincoln! How are you doing?" Lana Asks.

She's not wearing overalls or her hat anymore. But she's wearing a dress to my surprise. Looks like mom forced her to dress formally for once. "Hi Lana, I'm doing fine. How are you? Do you still want to be a plumber?" I ask.

"Nah, I wanna be a veterinarian now! I mean, animals, or toilets? Which one would you rather work with?" She asks rhetorically.

"Well, with animals, the ground is their toilet when you think about it." I tell her.

"True, true." She admits.

"Hi Lincoln." Lola says, not even looking at me. She's on her phone texting. Of course her dress is pink and glittery.

"Hi Lola!" I exclaim. "Who you texting?"

"My boyfriend." she says while not even lifting her eyes to meet me.

"Ooh what's his name?" I ask.

She finally looks up. "His name is Steven and he's graduating with Lucy." She tells me.

"Oh so you're into seniors huh?"

"Yeah I am. You should meet Steven, he's so dreamy."

"I bet he is."

"Yo! What's up Linc!" Lynn yells. Lynn's still got that pony tail going on. I mean, she makes it work though. She punches me in the arm. Really hard I might add.

"Ouch Lynn, Jesus, take it easy on me." I complain.

"Oh sorry Linc I just love doing that." She says with a devious smile.

"How's college softball treating you?" I ask while rubbing my shoulder.

"Oh it's been going great. My coach says I'm one of the best on her team." She says.

"That's wonderful." I say.

"How's your webcomic thing coming along?" She asks. This caught me off guard. Out of all my sisters she is the first to actually ask me about it. It never occurred to me that my family would be interested in my drawings let alone my comic.

"It's great actually. It hasn't gotten much traffic yet, I mean, these things rarely do but I hope that soon enough I'll get plenty of readers. If I do I'll be able to sell t-shirts and posters."

"So like, selling out?"

"...No! I'll be... I'll be making money out of doing what I love!" I tell her, a bit offended.

"Okay, sorry." she replies.

Jeez Lynn. She always manages to piss me off somehow.

"Hi Lincoln!" Luan said excitedly. She wasn't wearing her usual ponytail but decided to let all of her hair fall down. Luan was always the funny one. Recently she managed to go on a small tour for her stand-up routine. Her dream is to write for Saturday Night Live though. She said that a lot of successful comedians get their start on that show.

"Hi Luan, how are you? I ask.

"I'm doing fantastic! My manager is currently working on getting me to appear in movies. Just minor roles for now but hey, it's a start!" She says.

"That's wonderful Luan, I'm really proud of you." I tell her.

I really mean it. She's worked hard for it.

"Hey little bro! What's up?" Luna asks.

"Hi Lincoln." Sam waves.

"Oh hey you two. How's it going?" I asked.

Luna and Sam lived together. They were in a band called Homeless Rodeo and were currently working on their second album.

"We're still working on our LP." Luna says.

"Yeah, we rented a studio!" Sam exclaims.

"Oh wow a whole studio? I ask.

"Yup!" Luna says while nodding.

She has her arm over Sam's shoulder.

"Hi Lincy!" Yells Leni.

"Hi Leni! Hey, thanks again for helping me pick out clothes for Lucy." I say.

She's as bubbly as ever from the looks of it. She's actually a very successful fashion designer these days. "Where's your muse?" I ask.

"She's visiting family. Hey Lincoln, why's your hair always so white?" She asks.

"I get it from grandpa, you know that."

May he rest in peace.

At the end of this crazy line I call family sits Lori and Bobby. Their two kids are sitting beside her, Carlos and Ruth. Our huge family just kept getting bigger and bigger. I wave at her. She waves back.

"Hi Lincoln. Kids, you remember your uncle Lincoln?" She asks her kids.

"Hi Uncle Lincoln!" Carlos and Ruth say in unison.

"Hey kids! You can just call me uncle Linc for short if you want." I tell them.

"Hey Bobby, what's up?" I ask her husband.

"Oh hey dude. Nothing much just here for my sister in law's graduation from the looks of it." He tells me.

I get close to him and whisper in his right ear, "How's your sister doing these days?"

"She's doing okay. She misses you the most. Why'd you stop talking to her?" he whispers into my right ear.

"She stopped talking to me." I whisper back.

"Oh." He doesn't whisper that.

The lights go dim, I head over to my seat which is between Lola and Lynn. My dad finally shows up, I wave to him and he waves back. Suddenly on stage, all the students in their gowns and caps fill the chairs. I try to locate Lucy but it's really hard to see her from way up here. Wow, has it really been ten years since she was that eight-year-old who kept sneaking up on me? It's been one year since Ronnie Anne has talked to me. I definitely have to talk to her again.

Time really does fly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Celebration

I'm currently driving to my house, not my apartment that I share with Clyde, the actual house that I grew up in. Lucy's graduation lasted for three hours long. From the valedictorian giving her graduation speech to everybody throwing their caps into the air.

I was mainly bored out of my mind. I mean, of course I cheered when Lucy went up to accept her diploma and Lola cheered when her boyfriend went up to accept his... but I was dozing off for the most part. Lynn kept nudging my shoulder telling me to wake up or I'll miss it.

Miss what, Lynn? Lucy accepting her diploma lasted a total of ten seconds. Don't get me wrong, yes, I am happy for Lucy. She finally graduated with a few scholarships and I hear she's going to major in English literature.

When I graduated I was actually relieved. I spent thirteen years of my life learning about the common core, Christopher Columbus and abstinence but after my principal handed me my diploma it was over in a flash.

My whole adolescence for that? There were girls in my class who were sobbing and hugging their best friends. Clyde and I? We got a slice of pizza and played videogames all night.

I'm not driving alone though. Lily decided to come with me. She was pleading with mom to let me take her home. Turns out we're holding a graduation party for Lucy at our house. I thought I'd just hand over my present to mom and she would give it to Lucy while we were walking back to our cars but Lily kept tugging at my shirt, asking please a thousand times for me to come to the house with them. I don't like disappointing Lily. She really adores me although I can't see the appeal.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Lily asks. Uh-oh.

"No Lily, I don't." I tell her.

"Why not?" She asks. What do you mean why not? Can't a guy just be single? Why do I need a girlfriend?

"I'm just focusing on myself for right now. I'll get a girlfriend when I'm older." I say.

"I have a boyfriend!" Lily exclaims.

"You have a what? Lily, don't you think you're too young to have a boyfriend?" I ask.

"No, we hug and hold hands. This one time I even got to kiss him on the cheek." she says.

Oh thank God! I thought I'd have to give her the talk about the birds and the bees. Me! Her older _brother_! That's something reserved for Mom or Lori.

"So what are they teaching you in school these days?" I ask, attempting to change the subject.

"They taught us about our private parts in the library. It was weird." She says.

Oh God damn't Lily. "Well... you gotta learn about that kind of stuff eventually." I say to her trying to change the subject.

"So what do you wanna do this summer? Watch movies? Go swimming?" I ask.

"You're not gonna tell mom and dad I have a boyfriend will you?" Lily asks worriedly, changing the topic.

I sigh. "...Lily, listen to me," I continue, "I'm not going to tell them anything-"

"Oh thank you Lincoln! Thank you so much! Oh god I was so scared-" Lily cuts me off.

"Hey! I'm not finished!" I say in a stern voice.

"Oh. S-sorry..." She stammers embarrassingly.

"I told you I'm not gonna tell them, But Lily... you need to make sure that your boyfriend..." I trail off, realizing that I didn't know what her boyfriend's name was. "Hang on, what's his name anyway?" I ask.

"Thomas." She replies.

"Thomas! You make sure that Thomas treats you with respect, alright? That means he doesn't pressure you into doing anything that you're not comfortable with, got it?" I say, sounding exactly like my dad.

"Okay." She says reluctantly. Lily's eyes beam as she looks at me and it looks as though a light bulb went off in her head. "Hey, didn't you date Ronnie-Anne when you were my age?"

Oh why does everybody keep bringing this up?

"Yes I did. For like, a few weeks but, then we both just decided to go back to being friends." I say.

"Why? Didn't you like having her as your girlfriend?" Lily asks.

"I guess I did... but that was a really long time ago. Ronnie Anne and I both moved on." I tell her. Granted, Lily was just a baby when all of that happened. She couldn't remember what I was like ten years ago. But I can, God, I'm a completely different person. Both mentally and physically. The eleven year old me is long gone and he's never coming back. I would say that I had photos of him but I deleted those photos. If a tree were to fall in the forest and nobody was around to witness it, there will never be proof of what made it fall. You could make educated guesses based on the markings of the tree, It could've been multiple culprits involved. Maybe the tree did it himself but you'll never know for sure. Or maybe mom saved some photos too. I get lost in my thoughts sometimes. Suddenly, I realize we've reached our street.

"Well would you look at that? We're home."

I pull into the driveway and park my car. Lily says thanks for taking her home and we both walk towards the front door. I can't help but notice I have the crappiest car out of our entire family. Dad traded in Vanzilla for a new van shortly after Lori moved to college, Lori had a minivan, Leni and Luan both had sedans, while Sam and Luna had that SUV. My car needs a new paint-job and it's covered in dents.

I open the door for Lily and lots of people are in the living room. Lily Rushes to hug Lucy. Carlos and Ruth were playing videogames near the television, Lisa, Lola and Lana were on the couch babysitting them, Lori and Leni were in the dining room chatting, Lynn, Sam and Luna were hanging out on the stairway, Luan was in the kitchen cracking jokes(to whom exactly remains a mystery). There was a banner in the dining room that said, "happy graduation!". This place looked just as lively as ever.

"Lucy! Oh my gosh you graduated! Does that mean you don't have to go to school anymore?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Yes Lily. I'm finally free from the shackles of the American public education system. No longer will I have to endure their strict dress codes and standardized tests." Lucy tells Lily.

"...what?" Lily looked confused

"Go eat some cake, mom made some." Lucy says.

"Ooh cake!" Lily says. And just like that Lily rushes into the dining room. I briefly glance at Lucy and hand the present to her.

"Uh, this is for you." I say.

"Oh thanks Lincoln." She says while grabbing the gift.

She moves the colored tissue paper aside and finds a black top. "I love it Lincoln! Thank you so much you're the best brother I could ever ask for." She says while hugging me.

I realized that I haven't hugged my sister in a long time, does she realize this too?

"I'm glad you like it, Leni helped me pick it out for you" I said proudly. "So, how was your graduation?" I ask.

"To be honest with you, it was a complete snoozefest for me. I just wanted to get it over with. I tried to find you and the rest of the family in the audience but for the life of me I just could not spot you." Lucy says.

"It's fine, that doesn't matter anymore. I just want to let you know that I'm proud to be your big brother. You've come a long way and it shows. I love you Lucy." I say while hugging her again.

"I love you too Lincoln. I wouldn't be here without you." She says. "Come on, Mom made us cake."

"Cake?" I ask.

"Yeah it's devils food cake. Get it?" Lucy says.

"Hehe, yeah, real funny Lucy." I tell her. Lucy used to do weird satanic rituals in our attic when we were younger. She would often try and cast magical spells on us. Sometimes we'd play along with her but she grew out of that phase and just likes to joke and reminisce about it now. "Hey, I'll eat it in a while, I have to talk to Bobby first."

"Oh. Alright." She said.

Lucy leaves into the dining room. Lucy probably knew what I meant the way she said "oh". She _definitely_ knew what I was going to ask Bobby, but I just need to know why Ronnie Anne stopped talking to me. She's not one to start conversations, it's usually me initiating the calls and texts. She hasn't responded to either for so long. Not to mention I was so busy with work and trying to start my webcomic that it took a huge chunk of my time and I ended up forgetting about her until I remembered about Lucy's graduation. I also remembered the whole family would be there.

Suddenly I get a text notification.

I pull out my phone and my eyes widen and my heart skips a beat. I can't believe it. I'm holding it my hands as I narrate but it's the most incredible sight I've seen in a long time.

A text from Ronnie Anne.

Suddenly butterflies were floating in me, but then anxiety took over. Jesus, something must've been preventing her from reaching out to me. The thoughts about what could've happened to her made me feel sick. It was scary opening that text.

It read:

Hey Lincoln, sorry I haven't replied in a while. There was something going on in my life that was hard to deal with and even harder to talk about. I'm coming soon. I'll tell you all about it when I get there.

I replied with:

That's fine Ronnie Anne I'm just glad you're talking to me again. Yeah, come over and explain it to me."

I definitely have to talk to Bobby now. Lynn was still over by the stairs texting. "Lynn!" I yell.

"What?" Lynn yells back.

"Where's Bobby?" I yell.

"Stop yelling. I don't know." Lynn says. "Try asking Lori."

I see Lori is still sitting at the dining table talking to Leni.

"So Carlos threw up all over the car seat and it smelled terrible. I had to stop at a gas station and clean it up, it was literally the most disgusting smell I've ever smelled in a long time." Lori said.

"That is like, so gross Lori, oh my God. I'm eating cake, please." Leni said, while trying not to gag.

"He ate hotdogs and macaroni and the smell was putrid. Did I mention it was chunky too?" Lori said.

Leni spat out the cake she was currently chewing on into a napkin. "Like, oh my God Lori I said stop!" Leni shouted.

That's when I decided to intervene.

"Lori, why are you trying to gross out Leni?" I ask.

Lori was always bossy and petty but grossing out people was never really her thing. That's usually reserved for Lisa with her dissections or Lana with her- well Lana was always into gross stuff. I'll just leave it at that.

"No reason. It's just, I forget how gross kids are sometimes, y'know? I used to change everybody's diapers when you were all younger, did you know that?" Lori asks. _I probably could've gone my whole life without knowing that Lori._

"It's fine Lori, just stop grossing me out while I'm eating. Please?" Leni said.

"Lori do you know where Bobby is?" I ask.

"He's in the backyard patio talking to dad." Lori said.

"Thank you" I say.

"Why do you ask?" Lori asks. "Is it about Ronnie Anne?"

"Uh... yeah it is. Just worried about her that's all." I say.

Bobby and dad were in the backyard, sitting on some lawn chairs drinking beer together. They looked really relaxed.

"Man Mr. Loud, how did you take care of just two kids let alone eleven?" Bobby asks.

"Well, hehe, Rita took care of the kids mainly. And when Lori was old enough she helped out too. I was surprised that she was okay with popping out eleven of them though." Dad says.

"H-hey uh, Bobby?" I ask.

"Huh? Oh Lincoln! Hey man! You want a beer?" Bobby says.

"Um, no thank you, I'm fine. Hey, did you get a text from Ronnie Anne lately?" I ask.

"Oh shit hold on lemme check my phone." Bobby says. He pulls out his phone and holds it up to his face. "Yeah she did text me, just recently from the looks of it."

"What does it say?"

"It reads: Hey Bobby, I'm going to come over to the loud House. I need to talk to Lincoln. Just wanted to let you know." Bobby reads. "Huh, she should be here any minute then."

"Yeah she should." I say. Suddenly my phone rings. it's Ronnie Anne again.

"Hello?" I ask with some hesitation. I think Bobby could tell I was nervous. Were they hiding something from me? Lily asked about Ronnie Anne in the car, Lucy didn't want to get involved, Lori immediately knew what I was going to ask Bobby. Did she talk to my sisters before talking to me? Maybe I was mentioning her in conversations without me noticing? I do that sometimes.

"Lincoln? I'm here. Come to your front yard." Ronnie Anne says.

"Alright. Will do." I say. To be honest here, I have no idea what I'm expecting. I hope Ronnie Anne isn't running away from some imminent danger or anything. I have too much on my plate right now.

I make my way back into the house, and then out the front door.

There she is. Under the tree. Her hair looked nice. She was wearing a purple top with jean shorts and tennis shoes. She's been waiting for me for two minutes but I've been waiting for her for a year.

"Ronnie Anne? Is that you?" I say in disbelief. She's standing right in front of me but I still can't believe it.

"Uh, yeah, of course it's me. We just got off the phone?" She says.

She's still as mean as ever.

"So uh, it's uh, nice to see you again. How've you been?" I ask. I realize I forgot to check myself in the mirror to make sure I looked presentable. My facial hair looks gross if I don't take care of it.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you about. There's something I need to tell you.  
Can we go inside first? I feel a little exposed here." Ronnie Anne says to me.

"Yeah sure, follow me."

We head inside. Immediately everybody notices Ronnie Anne's presence. The house goes quiet.

"Uh, hi everybody, what's up?" Ronnie Anne says.

And then suddenly all of my sisters rush towards Ronnie Anne and start hugging her.

"We've misthed you stho much!"

"Where did you go dude?"

"Did you literally just get back into town?"

"Like, I love what you did with your hair!"

"Man Ronnie Anne, I've missed you so much! But my aim is getting better! Hahahaha, get it?"

Damn't Luan. Fuck that was terrible but I can't stop laughing . It's that bad.

Welcome back Ronnie Anne.

* * *

 **Hey readers! Nakednigerian here! I'm currently enrolled in a summer class and my job is going to give me way more shifts for the back to school season. I'll try and squeeze in time to write chapter 3 as much as I can but don't expect an update for a while. Thank you for reading my story I really appreciate it.**


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